Silly noodles

There is a famous dish in our hometown called muddled noodles. Its ingredients are simple: rapeseed, fresh wild vegetables, dried vegetables, corn grits, noodles, soybeans, peanuts, and bright red dried chili peppers. . Don't underestimate these ingredients, the noodles made from them carry the best memories of my childhood.

When I was a child, I had just managed to solve the problem of food and clothing, and eating well was out of the question, so noodles naturally became our staple food. After the busy work in autumn, my mother would usually dry the newly picked radish leaves, sweet potato leaves, and older cabbage leaves on the laundry rope in the yard. At that time, our brothers and sisters would come to help. Moving stools, climbing ladders, and drying the sun, we ran all over the yard to make things more complicated. We were often scolded because we were in the way, but we couldn't stop our enthusiasm to help. Looking at the green vegetable leaves one by one, we seemed to smell the confused noodles. The fragrance makes your mouth water!? In the gentle autumn wind, these leaves will dry out in a few days. My mother will find a clean bag to put them in and use them when making noodles in winter. In spring, we children would carry baskets to the wheat fields to dig wild vegetables as soon as school was over. There was almost no homework at that time. As soon as school was over, we were like little birds out of the cage, chasing and playing in the fields, having fun as hard as we could. Children, shepherd's purse, noodles, water radish... baskets were brought home. The next day, my mother would be able to make a pot of noodles with the strong aroma of wild vegetables, and drink them with freshly fried dry chili oil. When you put it in your mouth, it’s fragrant and spicy, not to mention how refreshing it is!

What I particularly like to drink is the leftover noodles from lunch. When I boil them in a big iron pot at dinner, it’s another delicious dish. So delicious. You must know that drinking leftover rice can be addictive. It is like smoking a cigarette. The first time you drink it, you will want to do it a second time. Therefore, in order to satisfy our craving, my mother always makes more noodles and leaves some left over to boil at night. Give us something to drink. Until now, when I make noodles, my son will always yell next to me: "Mom, make more, I will have leftovers at night!?" Even though I know that eating leftovers is not good, I still can't help but make more. I cook it for him to drink some nights after I go out. It seems that my son is addicted to drinking the leftovers. As the saying goes! "The leftover rice is named Zhang. The hotter it is, the more fragrant it is!" It's not false at all.

The countryside is particularly quiet during the off-season. At noon, when you walk in the streets and alleys of the village, you can smell the scent of mud noodles from a distance. It is difficult to tell which restaurant this scent comes from. Drifting out? Because we rural people will panic if they don’t drink mud noodles for a day, so it is common for people to drink mud noodles every day!? Really, you will never get tired of the noodles after drinking it for a long time!? Its fragrance It’s hard to describe it in words, but you can feel it with your nose: the strong aroma of corn paste, the sweet aroma of soybeans and peanuts, the delicate aroma of dried vegetables plus the pungent aroma of freshly fried chili oil, all kinds of aromas When blended together, you get the authentic aroma of muddy noodles!

As soon as the fragrance comes out, the street will become lively in a short while. Adults and children will come out of their homes each carrying noodles. They gather in groups of three or five, some of them. Some squatted and leaned against the wall, some sat on the purlins placed beside the wall, some stood half-standing and leaned on the big tree, some found a half-brick and stuffed it under their buttocks, and some took it off directly. Sit on it with one shoe... Everyone finds a comfortable position and starts to drink muddy noodles. They often chat while drinking, whose muddy noodles are delicious, and whose corn paste is cooked authentically. Ah, who puts more chopped green onion oil, whose fried chili is spicy... More often than not, they will switch drinks. You drink a bowl from my family, and I drink a spoonful from his family. Anyway, in our countryside As long as there is delicious food and delicious food, everyone has it.

What I loved most when I was a child was eating together like this, because not only could I eat noodles with different flavors from my own, but I could also hear a lot of strange things, and more importantly, I was so special I like this kind of customs and customs where we are as close as a family regardless of each other.

The days are passing by like an hourglass, and people’s lives have changed unconsciously. Now we in the countryside live like city dwellers, and we can buy anything fresh in the supermarket. You can buy vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, meat, and all kinds of snacks... you can eat whatever you want, when you want to eat it, if you don't want to cook it at home, you can go to a restaurant to eat it... In short, People are living a good life. Because of this, we in the countryside have fewer leaves of green vegetables hanging on ropes to dry, and in the wheat fields not even a single wild vegetable can be dug out due to the use of herbicides. Nowadays, when walking in the village, it is difficult to find the aroma of mud noodles. You can only drink them occasionally when your family improves your life. I don’t know when the mud noodles became a rare delicacy.

My mother in her seventies still had the habit of drying vegetables in the sun. She would also sprinkle some rapeseeds in the fields, so that we could still have noodles at my house. Perhaps due to my influence, my two children also like to drink it very much. Every Sunday, they will ask me to call my grandma’s house first and tell her that she must drink mud noodles at noon. This is an authentic hometown flavor. If children like to drink it, of course the elderly will be happy to do it.

Nowadays, every family has its own dining table, and few people go to the street to eat together. Our whole family sat together on the weekend, slurping down noodles, chatting about some family issues, laughing and having fun. When I meet old neighbors who come to visit me, they will say to me with a smile: "Look at what your mother did. Your daughter and grandson didn't improve their lives properly when they came here, but they even let you drink stupid noodles..." Often they don't wait for them. After saying that, my two children started to talk to each other: "Mud noodles are delicious..." which made everyone burst into laughter!

When I have free time at home, I will also make noodles. Drink, but now I am very particular about what I cook. The ingredients in the past are indispensable. I will also add some existing ingredients, scramble an egg or add a few ham sausages... the aroma of the muddy noodles will be even better. It’s thicker. One time, my daughter said to me while eating: "Mom, there are so many traditional delicacies in "A Bite of China", our muddy noodles should also be on the list, right? Maybe people all over the country like to eat them!" "Haha, my little girl has some ideas.

As time goes by, my family’s mud noodles are still fragrant. To me, they are more than just a bowl of noodles. They contain too much of my reluctance and care, and they carry the best memories of my childhood. Memories are a life full of joy, anger, sadness and joy...